Parish Papers eBook

of party, love of power, the spirit of proselytism,
and the like. We may possess many gifts, understand
mysteries and all knowledge; we may bestow our goods
to feed the poor, in zeal for Church or party we may
be willing to give our bodies to be burned; but before
God it profiteth us nothing, unless we have the “love
that suffereth long, and is kind, that envieth not,
that vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things,”

Surely our schisms may be healed if there be a Saviour
thus to heal them!

One word in conclusion. Neither the letter nor
the spirit of the apostle’s teaching condemn
a warm and firm attachment to “our own Church,”
but antagonism only to other Churches. A soldier
may love, and ought to love his own regiment with
peculiar affection, more especially if he has been
born in it, and brought up from childhood, as it were,
in its ranks. And it should be his honest pride
to see that it is one of the best drilled, most orderly,
most efficient, and bravest in the whole army.
But that is no reason why he should go about with
a drum to recruit from, weaken, or break up other
regiments; or why he should deny that there are
other regiments which equally belong to the grand
army, and may be even more efficient than his own,
though they do not wear the exact pattern of uniform,
or may charge on horseback while his marches on foot,
or possess cannon while his own have but small arms.
Why should he be jealous of their achievements?
Why should he be disposed to fight against them instead
of against the common enemy? And, worse than all,
why assert and boast that this one regiment of his
is the army, while all others are mere unauthorised
volunteers, or enemies in disguise? It is full
time for sensible men to give up this vain boasting,
proud antagonism, and irritating ambitious proselytism.

Instead, therefore, of any man attempting, what is
impossible during a lifetime, to understand the distinctive
principles of each of the many sections of the Christian
Church, so as to “join” that one which
seems most “pure” and “scriptural,”
he is much better, as a rule, to remain, if it is
at all possible for him, in the Church of his fathers,
in which he was baptized and reared, and to do all
in his power, by his example, his prayers, and his
steady, manly, firm attachment, to make “his
own Church” more efficient, and to permit others,
without interference, to do the same. Thus may
a man be a good Presbyterian in Scotland, and also
a good Episcopalian in England, or possibly a Nonconformist
in both, unless he believes in the Divine origin and
authority of some one ecclesiastical system, and the
mundane origin of all others. With perfect consistency
and sincerity he may dearly love his Church, but yet
love Christians more, because he loves Christ best
of all.